Ghana’s expected lineup against South Africa
Ghana’s Black Stars will take on South Africa on Sunday evening at the Cape Coast Stadium with their destiny in their hands. The Stars trail the group G leaders by three points and are also lagging behind on goal difference with the Bafana Bafana posting a better goal difference of plus five while the Ghanaians are on plus three.
The situation would have been better had the Stars won their match away to Ethiopia on Thursday in South Africa. But having sat back to watch their first-half one-goal lead cancelled out by Getane Kebede, the Stars would need to fire beyond limits to secure a place in the play-off stage of the qualifiers.
With the absence of Thomas Partey in midfield, the Black Stars laboured to hold a good piece together in the game where youngster Kudus Mohammed was almost ineffective, different from the version of him that has been seen since his debut. Mubarak Wakaso came on as a substitute in place of Richmond Boakye-Yiadom to partner Iddrisu Baba in midfield duties with Adre Ayew moving upfront as a central striker.
That did not produce any result in terms of goals for the Stars as they were hit with the equalizer 10 minutes after that change. Youngster Issahaku Fatawu and striker Caleb Ekuban and Daniel-Kofi Kyereh were also late substitutes in that game.
However, with the game being a ‘win or exit’ affair for the Stars, Coach Milovan is expected to make some changes to his lineup. Starting from the back, Jojo Wollacott who made good saves in Johannesburg to ensure Ghana still has some hope would maintain his place in between the sticks. He will be shielded by a back two of Daniel Amartey and Alexander Djiku who was suspended for the last match. Ghana’s defence struggled to contain the Ethiopians in that game and we expect Djiku to walk back into the fold with Joseph Aidoo dropping out after a bad game against the Walias. We expect the coach to maintain trust in the Reading FC duo of Baba Rahman and Andy-Yiadom to defend from the flanks.
In midfield, Mubarak Wakaso is expected to get back into the starting lineup to perform the defensive role in place of Baba Iddrisu with Kudus Mohammed and Kamaldeen Sulemana playing advanced roles ahead of him.
Ghana’s lack of a clinical striker has been the major problem with the team since Asamoah Gyan exit from the team. Jordan Ayew, his brother Andre as well as Benjamin Tetteh and recently Richmond Boakye-Yiadom have all played the centre-forward role but none has proven to be effective. But Milo is expected to thrust Caleb Ekuban into the starting role in the middle of the attack with Andre Ayew and Fatawu Issahaku playing behind him.
Predicted XI: Jojo Wollacott, Baba Rahman, Alexander Djiku, Daniel Amartey, Andy-Yiadom, Mubarak Wakaso, Kudus Mohammed, Kamaldeen Sulemana, Issahaku Fatawu, Andre Ayew, Caleb Ekuban.
By: Clifford Adumbire | myactiveonline.com
